Electronic apparatus, battery management system, and battery management method

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus to enable electronic apparatuses to display the remaining power of exchangeable batteries at any given time. A battery pack having a battery and an ID generator is attached to an electronic apparatus. The accumulated consumption hours of the battery is stored in a battery information memory for each battery ID. A remaining power detector determines the remaining battery power on the basis of the accumulated consumption hours and displays it on a display unit. Because the remaining battery power is determined based on the consumption hours of a battery, the running hours of a battery can be displayed at any given time.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

This invention relates to a battery having an identification with whichto identify the battery. More specifically, this invention relates to anapparatus and a method of managing and displaying the remaining batterypower correctly.

2. Description of the Related Art

Electronic apparatus, such as personal computers or TV cameras, havebecome increasingly used as portable devices. Most such electronicapparatus use rechargeable batteries, including nickel cadmium storageand nickel metal hydride storage batteries.

The discharge characteristics of those batteries are shown in FIG. 33.While terminal voltage remains constant after a battery is used for along time, it rapidly drops once the remaining battery power becomeslow. Thus, terminal voltage of an electronic apparatus using this typeof battery must be monitored. An alarm is output when the terminalvoltage drops low (Time T1 in FIG. 33). If the electronic apparatus isstill used, the operation stops at time T2.

Nickel metal hydride or nickel cadmium storage batteries have adisadvantage in that the electronic apparatus stops a short time afterthe alarm is output, thereby requiring users to carry new batteries or acharger with them.

A conventional charger is explained below using FIG. 34. FIG. 34 shows acharger for an exchangeable charging battery pack, indicated in theJapan Unexamined Patent Publication 2-294231. This charger has thefollowing components. A code reader 96a reads an identification code 92adisplayed on a battery pack 92 in which a exchangeable battery isstored. A memory unit 96c stores charge management data of the batterypack, including the number of charges, and the content of theidentification code. A data processor 96b manages the battery pack,including the processing for determining whether the number of chargeshas reached a predetermined number of times based on the chargemanagement data. A display unit 94 displays the battery information,including the results of processing done by the data processor.

Conventional electronic apparatus have problems. Alarms output suddenly,while an electronic apparatus is being used and the apparatus is stoppedshortly. This is because the remaining battery power is detected bymeasuring the terminal voltage of the battery. There are chargers thatmanage batteries by attaching an identifier to each battery. It is acharger, however, that manages batteries with identifiers and not anelectronic apparatus that manages batteries with the identifiers.Electronic apparatus itself does not manage charge information for eachbattery even when the battery has an identifier.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Accordingly, it is a primary object of the present invention to providean electronic apparatus that can identify the remaining battery power atany given time.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a batterymanagement system and a method to know the remaining power of eachbattery even when the battery is to be used for another electronicapparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronicapparatus to display the remaining power based on the hours a battery isactually used by storing the consumption hours in a battery informationmemory unit installed in the electronic apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronicapparatus which displays the remaining battery power based on theconsumption hours even when a new battery is used.

Another object of the present invention is to obtain the remainingbattery power easily and rapidly based on the accumulated consumptionhours.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronicapparatus which displays the remaining battery power even when a batteryand a commercial power source are concurrently used.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronicapparatus which displays the remaining battery power even when a batteryis charged, by calculating the amount of charged power based on thecharge information.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronicapparatus which displays the correct remaining battery power even when abattery whose power level is unknown is set.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an electronicapparatus which indicates the life of a battery according to the totalconsumption hours of the battery.

Another object of the present invention is to tell the life of a batteryaccording to the number of charged times.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a batterymanagement system which can correctly display the remaining batterypower even when a charger and an electronic apparatus are separate.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a batterymanagement system which displays a correct remaining battery power bysharing or centrally managing the battery information when a battery isused for different electronic apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a batterymanagement system which does not require any special hardware forbattery information exchange when a battery is used for differentelectronic apparatus.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a batterymanagement system which can transfer battery information withoutaffecting the processing of the electronic apparatus by transmitting thebattery information at a predetermined timing.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a batterymanagement system that can display the correct remaining power for eachbattery by calculating the consumption hours based on the battery IDs.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a batterymanagement system that can display and output the remaining power of abattery by registering a battery ID if the new battery's ID has not beenregistered.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a batterymanagement system that can display the remaining battery power at anygiven time by obtaining the accumulated consumption hours up to thepoint.

The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for a batteryhaving an identification and particularly relates to a method ofmanaging and displaying the correct remaining battery power.

According to one aspect of the invention an electronic apparatus isprovided, which receives power from a battery having an identification.The apparatus includes a mechanism for reading the identification, amechanism for storing a table, which holds identifications and batteryinformation, including power consumption information, a mechanism forupdating the power consumption information in the table according to thepower consumed by the battery and in accordance with the identification,a mechanism for detecting remaining power based on the power consumptioninformation updated by the mechanism for updating the power consumptioninformation, and a mechanism for displaying the remaining power.

According to another aspect of the invention, a battery managementsystem is provided. The system includes a plurality of electronicapparatus, each of which consumes power and each having a battery withan ID. A memory mechanism is provided for storing battery informationregarding the batteries, and an update mechanism is provided forupdating the battery information stored in the memory mechanism. Amanagement mechanism is provided for observing the remaining power ofthe battery based on the battery information stored by the memorymechanism.

In addition, a communication mechanism is provided for communicating andexchanging the battery information stored by the memory mechanism amongthe plurality of electronic apparatus.

According to yet another aspect of the invention, a method for managingat least one battery is provided.

The method includes the following steps: reading an identification froma battery; and searching a memory, holding battery information accordingto identification for the identification read in the first step. Thebattery information includes a power on time, and a power off time,power consumption hours, and an accumulated consumption hours. Themethod further includes the steps of setting the power on time in thebattery information in the memory according to the identification;setting the power off time in the battery information in the memoryaccording to the identification; calculating the power consumption hoursof the battery and accumulating the power consumption hours to theaccumulated consumption hours in the battery information in the memory;and detecting a level of a remaining power in the battery based on theaccumulated consumption hours and outputting the level of the remainingpower that is detected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an electronic apparatus according tothe present invention;

FIG. 2 shows one example of items in the battery information memoryaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 3 is an operational flowchart of an electronic apparatus accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 4 is an operational flowchart of an electronic apparatus accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 5 shows an example of electronic apparatus using this invention;

FIG. 6 is an operational flowchart of an electronic apparatus accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 7 is an operational flowchart of an electronic apparatus accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 8 shows an example of an electronic apparatus according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 9 is an example of items in a battery information memory accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 10 shows an example of an electronic apparatus according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 11 is an example of a battery management system according to thepresent invention;

FIG. 12 represents an example of items in the charge information memoryand battery information memory;

FIG. 13 is an operational flowchart of a battery management systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 14 is an example of items of a battery information memory accordingto the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a battery management system according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 16 is an operational flowchart of a battery management systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 17 is an operational flowchart of a battery management systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of battery exchange of a battery managementsystem according to the present invention;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of battery exchange of a battery managementsystem according to the present invention;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of battery exchange of a battery managementsystem according to the present invention;

FIG. 21 is an operational flowchart of a battery management systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 22 is a battery management system according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 23 is an example of items in the battery information memory of amaster electronics apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 24 is an operational flowchart of a battery management systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 25 is an operational flowchart of a battery management systemaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 26 is another example of a battery information memory according tothe present invention;

FIG. 27 is another example of battery information memory according tothe present invention;

FIG. 28 illustrates the relationships between the consumption hours andpower of an electronic apparatus according to the present invention;

FIG. 29 shows how to correct consumption hours according to the presentinvention;

FIG. 30 is a table of accumulated consumption hours for correctingconsumption hours according to the present invention;

FIG. 31 illustrates another example of using voltage as an batteryinformation according to the present invention;

FIG. 32 illustrates another example of using voltage as a batteryinformation according to the present invention;

FIG. 33 shows the voltage characteristics of conventional batteries; and

FIG. 34 shows a conventional charger.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Embodiment 1

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an electronic apparatus according tothe present invention. In the figure, a battery 1 is used for anelectronic apparatus. ID generator 2 is attached to batteries. Batterypack 3 has the battery 1 and the ID generator 2. The electronicapparatus receives its supply from the battery pack 3. ID reader 5 readsbattery IDs from the ID generator 2 of the battery pack 3. The CPU 6 isprovided in the electronic apparatus. A battery information memory 7stores data for each battery ID. A remaining power detector 8 detectsthe remaining power of a battery based on its information in the batteryinformation memory. A display unit 9 displays the remaining powerdetected by the remaining power detector 9.

FIG. 2 is an example of battery information stored in the batteryinformation memory 7. The battery information is stored for each batteryID. The battery information has the following: the time when the userstarts to use the electronic apparatus (also called as ON time); thetime when the user stops to use it (called OFF time); consumption hoursobtained from the on and off times; and the accumulated consumptionhours.

Operation of an electronic apparatus is explained below using FIGS. 3and 4. First, a battery pack is set in the designated place to make theelectronic apparatus be in a ready state. The battery pack 3 has an IDgenerator 2. This example of detecting the correct remaining batterypower can apply to an electronic apparatus having only one battery ormore than one batteries in the battery pack. Also, the IDs can beattached either to the battery or to the battery pack. A bar code can beattached to the ID generator 2. The ID reader 5 reads the bar code orother ID of the battery pack 3 set in the battery pack. A read onlymemory in the battery pack 3 may also be used as the ID generator 2.When a read only memory storing the battery IDs is attached to thebattery pack, the content of the read only memory is electrically readby the ID reader 5.

The battery IDs can also be set to the ID generator 2 by a dip switch.Turning the dip switch to on or off sets the battery ID, which, in turn,is read by the ID reader. It is also possible to implement the IDgenerator by modifying the shape of the battery. The ID reader reads thebattery ID by reading the modification of the battery's physical shape.

Another example is to print a specified pattern to be read by the IDreader on the surface of the battery or battery pack. Patternselectrically connect or disconnect electric terminals like those used toidentify the type of a film for a camera, or patterns that can be readby an optical character reader (OCR).

Batteries and battery packs can be either cylindrical, rectangular, or athin plate shape. Batteries can be a disposable dry element cell or arechargeable storage type.

As stated above, physical, electronic, or optical methods can be appliedto the ID generator 2 and to the ID reader so long as the method servesto indicate and to read the battery IDs.

When the electronic apparatus with a battery pack is turned on (stepS1), the ID reader 5 reads the battery ID provided from the ID generator2 of the battery pack 3.

Then at step S3, the CPU 6 retrieves the battery information memory 7according to the battery ID read by the ID reader 5. If the battery IDhas not been registered, it is registered in the battery informationmemory 7 at step S4. The time when the electronic apparatus is poweredon according to as measured by a timer of the electronic apparatus isstored in the battery information memory. This is done in both cases,e.g., when the battery ID of the attached battery pack 3 has alreadybeen registered and when the battery pack 3 is newly registered at stepS4. Then, power on processing for the electronic apparatus completes.

FIG. 3 (b) shows the steps of powering off an electronic apparatus. Thisoperation is performed at the time of indication of power off until thesupply of power is actually stopped, which is in this figure indicatedat step S15,

When power is turned off at step S11, processing from steps S12 throughS14 are carried out before the power supply is stopped. At step S12, thepower off time as measured by the timer in the electronic apparatus isset in the battery information memory. Then, by subtracting the on timefrom the off time, the actual consumption hours of the electronicsapparatus (or of the battery for that session) is calculated. At stepS14, the calculated consumption hours are added to the accumulatedconsumption hours. As shown in FIG. 2, the consumption hours are updatedand the accumulated consumption hours of the battery are stored.

The remaining power detector 8 detects the remaining battery poweraccording to the accumulated consumption hours. Assuming that a batterycan last for 8 hours, for example, and the accumulated consumption hoursare one hour and a half, as shown in FIG. 2, then the battery can beused for 6 hours and a half more. The display unit outputs this resultto the output device such as the CRT or a printer.

The flowchart in FIG. 4 shows how the remaining battery power of anelectronic apparatus is detected at a given time. The remaining batterypower can be detected at specific times or upon a user's request. Or, itcan be detected at a set interval, e.g., at every other minute or in tenminutes and so on. The remaining power is displayed in a specified area,such as on the top or bottom line on the CRT screen.

When a request to detect the remaining power is issued to the remainingpower detector 8, an operation (S201) starts. First, the accumulatedconsumption hours in the battery information are read at step S202.Then, the power on time in the battery information is also read at stepS203. After current time is obtained from the timer at step S204, thedifference between the current time and the power on time is calculatedat step S205 to find the consumption hours. At step S206, Theconsumption hours obtained is added to the accumulated consumption hoursread at step S202 to find the accumulated consumption hours up to thispoint. At step S207, the accumulated consumption hours obtained at stepS206 is subtracted from the known possible battery running hours todetect the possible running hours left, which is then output at stepS208.

The ID generator is set in the exchangeable battery, and the ID readeris set in the electronic apparatus. When the electronic apparatus ispowered on, the ID reader reads the ID of the exchangeable battery andrefers to the IDs in the battery information memory. When the ID isfound in the memory, the power on time of the electronic apparatus iswritten in the battery information memory. When the ID is not found, itis registered anew and the power on time of the electronic apparatus iswritten in the battery information memory.

When the CPU reads the above information, the remaining power detectordetects the remaining battery power, which in turn is displayed on thedisplay unit.

The electronic apparatus according to the present Invention can indicatethe remaining battery power by storing the battery consumption hours inthe memory for each ID read from the battery for which an ID has beenregistered. When a battery is exchanged, the battery's ID is newlyregistered, based on which the consumption hours are to be updated.

Therefore, correct consumption hours are detected and the remainingpower can be indicated, even when batteries have been exchanged.Although the remaining battery power can be detected by subtracting theconsumption power from the charged capacity, consumption power iscalculated from the consumption hours in this way by example only.Another valid example is to store the amount of consumption powerdetected by measuring the applied current and time and then integratingthem. By storing consumption information, the remaining battery powercan be detected at any given time while using the electronic apparatus.

In this example, when a battery having a new ID not yet registered inthe memory is used, the new ID and its battery information areregistered in the memory, permitting consumption hours for each batteryto be calculated. Thus, an electronic apparatus can detect the remainingpower from the accumulated consumption hours even when the batteries areexchanged.

In this example, an electronic apparatus can obtain the remainingbattery power easily and rapidly because the remaining power iscalculated from the accumulated consumption hours.

In this example, the accumulated consumption hours are obtained based onthe operation hours calculated from the on and off times of a battery.Based on this accumulated consumption hours, the remaining battery poweris detected and displayed. Because the accumulated consumption hours arecalculated according to the battery IDs, the electronic apparatus canobtain the correct remaining battery power, even when the battery is newor exchanged.

In this example, when an ID is not registered, it is registered in thebattery information memory, thus enabling the electronic apparatus todetect the remaining battery power even when the battery is new.

In this example, while an electronic apparatus is in use, the correctremaining power can be output at any given time because the accumulatedconsumption hours up to that particular time can be calculated.

Embodiment 2

FIG. 5 illustrates another example of using an electronic apparatusaccording to the present invention. In the Figure, the commercial powersource 10 may run at VAC 100. The power source recognizer 11 detectswhether power is applied from the commercial power source or frombattery pack 3. The switch 12 switches power from the commercial powersource 10 to the battery pack 3 and vice versa.

This is an example of using both commercial power source 10 and batterypack 3 with the switch 12. When the electronic apparatus 4 uses thecommercial power source 10, the power of battery 1 of the battery pack 3is not consumed. The information stored in the battery informationmemory 7, therefore, is not to be updated.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show operation of the invention when a commercial powersource is used. FIG. 6 corresponds to FIG. 3, and FIG. 7 corresponds toFIG. 4. FIGS. 6 and 7 can be differentiated from FIGS. 3 and 4 in thatat step S20, If the power source detected by the power source recognizer11 is commercial, processing from step S2 through step S5 are skipped.Also, if the power source recognizer 11 detects the commercial powersource at step S21, operation ends without performing processing fromstep S12 through step S14 as shown in FIG. 7. The remaining batterypower is always detected correctly because the content in the batteryinformation memory is not affected regardless of whether the electronicapparatus is powered on or off when a commercial power source isapplied.

In the above example, when the electronic apparatus is powered on, thepower source recognizer detects whether the applied power is commercialor battery. When the battery power is detected, the ID reader in theelectronic apparatus reads the information from the ID generator in theexchangeable battery and refers to the battery ID in the batteryinformation memory. If the ID is found in the battery informationmemory, the power on time of the electronic apparatus is written in itsrecord. When the ID is not found, it is newly registered, and the poweron time of the electronic apparatus is written in the batteryinformation memory. When the CPU reads the above information, theremaining power detector detects the remaining battery power, which, inturn, is displayed on the display unit.

In the above example, consumption hours are added only when the batterypower is used, thereby enabling the electronic apparatus to correctlydisplay the remaining battery power when both the battery and commercialpower source are available.

Embodiment 3

FIG. 8 shows one example of using an electronic apparatus according tothe present invention. In FIG. 8, charger 13 charges battery 1 attachedin the battery pack 3. Power controller 14 controls the supplying ofpower from the battery I or the charging of power to the battery 1 fromthe charger 13. When the battery 1 is fully charged from the charger 13,the power controller stops the charging. The power controller 14 isassumed to have a capability of knowing when a battery becomes fullycharged by supplying a specified charge current for a specified chargetime. This example is characterized in that the electronic apparatus isprovided with a charger and that the charge information is included inthe battery information in the battery information memory for chargingbattery 1.

In embodiments 1 and 2, either dry cell or storage batteries can beused. In this example, however, storage batteries are used toaccommodate the charger.

FIG. 9 shows an example of battery information memory having stored thecharge information, which records the charge on time, the charge offtime, and the charged rate. The charge on time is the time when thebattery 1 starts to be charged from the charger 13, and the charge offtime is the time when charging of the battery 1 is terminated. Thecharged rate, which represents the time actually spent for charging inproportion to the time required for full charging, is obtained by thefollowing equation:

    The charged rate (%)=(charged time / time required for full charge×100).

The reasons the charger 13 stops charging the battery 1 are twofold; oneis when the power controller detects the battery 1 has been chargedfully, thus charging is no longer necessary. The other reason is whenthe power supply to the charger 13 is forcibly terminated as power fromthe commercial power source 10 is stopped.

FIG. 9 explains an operation when a battery becomes fully charged in anhour. As is indicated in FIG. 9 (a), a battery is charged for an hour.The power controller 14 detects the fully charged state. When thecharger 13 has charged the battery 1 fully, the charged rate becomes100%, at which point the accumulated consumption hours are cleared. Inthis example, the accumulated consumption hours stored as one hour and ahalf are cleared when the rate has reached 100%.

The charged rate does not reach 100% if the charger terminates chargingdue to the termination of power supply from the commercial power source10.

Because the power controller knows that a battery becomes fully chargedwhen a specified current is applied for a specified time period, thecharged rate can be obtained even when power to the battery isterminated halfway.

If, for example, it requires one hour to charge a battery, and a batteryis charged for half an hour, e.g., from 10:00 to 10:30 as shown in FIG.9 (b), the charged rate will be detected as 50%. When the charged ratedoes not reach 100%, the accumulated consumption hours are not cleared.

Running hours can be predicted based on the charged rate. i.e., in thiscase 50%, to update the accumulated consumption hours. If a fullycharged battery can be used for 10 hours and its charged rate isindicated as 50%, the running hours can be detected as 5 hours, thus theaccumulated consumption hours are 5 hours. As shown in FIG. 9 (b). theaccumulated consumption hours is updated from 6 hours and 32 minutes to5 hours.

In this embodiment, an ID generator is attached to an exchangeablebattery, and the ID reader is attached to the electronic apparatus. Whenthe electronic apparatus is powered on, the ID reader reads the ID ofthe exchangeable battery and refers it to the battery IDs in the batteryinformation memory. When the ID number is found, the power on time ofthe electronic apparatus is written in the battery information memory.If the ID number is not found, it is newly registered and the power ontime is written in the battery information memory.

When a battery is fully charged from the charger, the charge informationis written in the battery information memory. When the CPU reads theabove information, the consumption information and charge informationare calculated to obtain the remaining battery power, which is thendisplayed on the display unit.

When an electronic apparatus is provided with a charger, the consumptioninformation is updated based on the accumulated consumption hours andcharge hours to obtain the remaining power, thereby enabling theapparatus to correctly indicate the remaining battery power.

Embodiment 4

FIG. 10 shows an example of an electronic apparatus according to thepresent invention.

The discharger 10 discharges power from the battery 2. In this example,the battery 2 of the battery pack 3 becomes fully charged by the charger13 only after it is discharged by the discharger 15.

In previously described embodiments, the remaining battery powerdetermined from the consumption hours could be incorrect because thecapacity level of the battery 2 in the battery pack 3 cannot be known.Although the remaining battery power can be correctly detected based onthe consumption hours after the battery 2 is fully charged, when anelectronic apparatus is provided with a charger, there is no tellingwhether or not a battery of the battery pack is fully charged, when thebattery pack is initially attached. Thus, sometimes the remainingbattery power displayed at the initial stage of the operation isincorrect. In this example, however, the remaining battery power can becorrectly obtained from the consumption hours because the battery isdischarged by the discharger 15 before being fully charged from thecharger 13.

In this embodiment, an ID generator is attached to exchangeablebatteries, and the ID reader is attached to the electronic apparatus.When the electronic apparatus is powered on, the ID reader reads the IDof the exchangeable battery and refers it to the battery IDs in thebattery information memory. When the ID number is found, the power ontime of the electronic apparatus is written in the battery informationmemory. If the ID is not found, it is newly registered in the batteryinformation memory. Before the electronic apparatus starts to operate,the battery is discharged once and then charged fully. The time when thebattery has become fully charged is written as the power on time of theelectronic apparatus, and the charge information is written as beingfully charged. When the CPU reads the above information, the consumptioninformation and charge information are calculated to obtain theremaining battery power, which is then displayed on the display unit.

In this embodiment, because a battery is discharged once by thedischarger before being fully charged, it becomes possible to use anystate of storage batteries. Thus, the remaining battery power can bedetected according to the consumption hours from the fully charged stateand correctly indicated.

Embodiment 5

FIG. 11 represents another example of an electronic apparatus accordingto the present invention, in which the charge unit 21 is attached in thecharger 20, the ID reader 22 reads battery IDs from the ID generator 1,and the charge information memory 23 stores the battery chargeinformation for each battery read by the ID reader 22. Line 24 connectsthe electronic apparatus 4 with the charger 20. The CPU 25 reads thebattery ID by activating the ID reader 22 and sends the chargeInformation stored in the charge information memory 23 to the electronicapparatus 4 via line 24. Commercial power source 26 supplies power tothe charge unit 21.

Most chargeable batteries are charged by a separate charger. Thisexample is used to explain how to correctly display the remainingbattery power on the electronic apparatus 4 even when a battery ischarged by a separate charger 20. The ID reader 22 of the charger 20reads the battery ID from the ID generator under the control of the CPU25 and stores it in the charge information memory 23. Under the controlof the CPU 25, the charge information from the charger 21 is stored foreach battery ID in the charge information memory 23.

FIG. 12 shows examples of items in the charge information memory and thebattery information memory. The charged date and the fully charged timeare stored for each battery ID in the charge information memory 23. Inaddition to the items included in the previously shown batteryinformation memory, the operation date, e.g., the most recent date onwhich the battery is consumed, is added to the battery informationmemory 7. Furthermore, the charged date and the fully charged timetransferred from the charge information memory 23 via line 24 are alsostored.

In FIG. 12 (a), the charged date and the fully charged time are storedfor the battery having an ID "BT01" FIG. 12 (b) indicates the status inwhich the charged date and fully charged time of the battery BT01 aretransferred to the electronic apparatus via line 24 and stored in thebattery information memory 7. The last running date and the off time forthe battery identified as BT01 can be known by referring to the runningdate and the off time in the battery information memory.

If the charged date and fully charged time sent from the charger aremore recent than the above, accumulated consumption hours are to becleared.

The remaining battery power can be correctly displayed when a battery isattached to the electronic apparatus 4 after being fully charged by thecharger 20 as the CPU 25 transfers the charge information to the batteryinformation memory via line 24 to update the battery's accumulatedconsumption hours.

FIG. 13 is an operational flowchart of this example. When the electronicapparatus is powered on at step S31, the electronic apparatus 4 readsthe charge information in the charger via line 24 at step S32, which isthen added to the battery information at step S33. The consumption hoursare read from the battery information memory at step S34. Then theaccumulated consumption hours are updated based on the chargeinformation and accumulated consumption hours at step S35, with whichthe remaining battery power is calculated and stored in the batteryinformation memory.

When the electronic apparatus 4 uses one of the batteries charged by thecharger 20, the information of the battery is read according to its IDfrom the battery information memory, based on which the remainingbattery power is calculated and displayed.

In this embodiment, the electronic apparatus storing the batteryinformation and the charger are separate. When the charger, in which thebattery ID and the charge information are stored, is connected to theelectronic apparatus, the information in the charger is read into theelectronic apparatus.

In this example of battery management system, in which the charger andthe electronic apparatus are separate, they are connected so that thecharge information in the charger is transferred to the electronicapparatus to obtain the remaining battery power. The electronicapparatus can tell the charged level of a battery when it receives thecharge information. The remaining power of a battery attached to theelectronic apparatus can be correctly displayed even when the chargerand the electronic apparatus are separate as the charge information istransferred.

Embodiment 6

The previously given example shows that the charge information includesstoring charged date and the fully charged time. FIG. 14 shows anotherexample of making up the charge information. It includes charge on time,charge off time, charged date, and a full charge flag. The charge ontime and off time in this figure indicate the time when the charger 20is turned on and off. The full charge flag is set on when a battery isfully charged. The charge on and off times can be transferred only whenthis flag is off,

Although it is preconditioned that batteries are fully charged by thecharger 20 in embodiment 5, embodiment 6 represents a case in which abattery to be used may not necessarily be fully charged.

If the full charge flag is on, the battery is considered to be fullycharged Just as in the previous example.

When the full charge flag is off, the battery's charged rate ispredicted based on the charge on and off times. The accumulatedconsumption hours may be updated and the remaining battery power can besurmised based on this predicted value.

Embodiment 7

FIG. 15 shows one example of battery management system according to thepresent invention. In this figure, electronic apparatuses 4a through 4nare employed, e.g., more than one apparatus is used. Local area network100 connects those multiple electronic apparatuses and the local areanetwork interfaces 16a through 16n are installed inside the electronicapparatuses 4a through 4n.

FIG. 16 is an operational flowchart of this example. Steps S41 throughS48 show the sequence of operations when an electronic apparatus isturned on, and step S51 indicates the operation of any other electronicapparatuses that have been already on.

When an electronic apparatus is powered on (S41), the batteryinformation of other electronic apparatuses received from step S51 isread at step S42.

Upon being powered on, the electronic apparatus references the batteryinformation memory according to the transferred battery ID. If the ID isnot found in the battery information memory. It is newly registered andused to obtain new battery information from other electronicapparatuses, and the new information is registered in the batteryinformation memory. When the battery ID is in the battery informationmemory, the battery information in it is updated based on the newbattery information obtained from other electronic apparatuses.

The electronic apparatus then calculates the remaining power of theattached battery based on the latest battery information obtained atstep S45. An electronic apparatus can calculate remaining power ofbatteries attached to other electronic apparatuses as well as thoseattached to itself using the previously mentioned equation. Theelectronic apparatus can display the result of calculation at step S46either for itself or for other electronic apparatuses.

FIG. 17 is an operational flowchart of an electronic apparatus at poweroff. After the electronic apparatus is turned off, it is when theoperational sequence ends that the actual power supply is terminated.

When an electronic apparatus is turned off, the battery ID and itsinformation are transferred to other electronic apparatuses. In FIG. 17,the battery information of this electronic apparatus is transferred toother electronic apparatuses at step S56, where the battery informationis to be updated at step S52 for each ID. This enables each electronicapparatus to retain the latest battery information through transferringof IDs and their information when an electronic apparatus is poweredoff.

The content of the battery information is checked upon its transfer andthe sequence of operations ends when the content proved true.

The latest battery information is exchanged and shared among multipleelectronic apparatuses each time an electronic apparatus is powered off.

FIGS. 18 and 19 explain how batteries are exchanged. FIG. 18 shows how abattery with an ID BT01 is to be exchanged with another battery BT02.

An electronic apparatus running on the battery BT01 (S102) is poweredoff (S103) according to the operational sequence shown in FIG. 17. Thelatest information of the battery BT01 has been transferred to otherelectronic apparatuses.

After the battery BT01 is taken out (S104), a new and fully chargedbattery (BT02) is attached to the electronic apparatus (S105). Then theelectronic apparatus is powered on at step S106 and the information ofthe battery BT02 is transferred to other electronic apparatuses asindicated in FIG. 16. Because the battery BT02 is attached in its fullycharged state, its battery information is stored as being fully charged.

When this power on operation ends, the electronic apparatus starts torun with the battery BT02 at step S107.

FIG. 19 gives an example of exchanging batteries while an electronicapparatus is running with a commercial power source. After a batteryBT01 is taken out at step S113, a battery BT02 is attached to theelectronic apparatus. Because batteries have been disconnectedelectrically, battery exchange can be done at any given time whileallowing the electronic apparatus to continue its operation withcommercial power source.

Power is then switched from commercial power source to the battery BT02at step S115. When the battery BT02 starts to operate, the sequence ofoperation is carried out to transfer the battery information to otherelectronic apparatuses as is explained in FIG. 16.

Because the battery BT02 is attached in its fully charged state, thebattery information in all electronic apparatuses is updated as beingfully charged.

After the battery information has been transferred, the electronicapparatus starts to run with the battery BT02.

Another example of battery exchange is shown in FIG. 20. In FIG. 20 (a),while an electronic apparatus is running with commercial power source, abattery BT01 is exchanged with a battery BT02, after which theelectronic apparatus is once turned off. Because the electronicapparatus is running with commercial power source, batteries can beexchanged at any time. Also, the battery information is not updated nortransferred as the batteries have not been in use. FIG. 20 (b) shows asequential operation in which the electronic apparatus is powered on(S116) after a battery BT02 is newly attached.

The information of the battery BT02 is transferred to other electronicapparatuses as shown in FIG. 16. Then the battery BT02 enters anoperating state at step S117.

The information of the taken battery BT01 is saved in the batteryinformation memory of the electronic apparatus, thus retaining the poweroff state of the battery.

The execution of power on and off operations shown in FIGS. 16 and 17enables all electronic apparatuses to share the latest batteryinformation even after batteries are exchanged.

With multiple electronic apparatuses being connected via line, anelectronic apparatus storing the battery information collects andupdates the battery information for each ID of other electronicapparatuses and then transfers the information to other electronicapparatuses, thus allowing all electronic apparatuses to share the samelatest battery information.

As has been explained, two or more electronic apparatuses exist in thisexample. Because the electronic apparatuses transfer and share theinformation of all batteries based on their IDs, an electronic apparatushas been provided with the information of a battery even when thebattery had been previously used for another electronic apparatus. Thus,this battery management system can correctly display the remainingbattery power.

The battery management system in this example is connected via multiplelines in the local area network, through which battery information canbe easily transferred.

Embodiment 8

In the previous embodiment, because power source information isexchanged only when an electronic apparatus is powered on or off, thebattery information is not updated as long as an electronic apparatus isin use.

Thus, battery information in this example is designed to be transferredat a predetermined timing point. FIG. 21 differs from FIG. 16 in thatsteps S49 and S50 are added and that this sequence is looped until poweris turned off.

A timer is set at step S49. For instance, to transfer batteryinformation every 10 minutes, the timer is set to 10 minutes. Aftercountdown starts, it is checked whether or not 10 minutes have passed.The sequential operation is looped for 10 minutes. When 10 minutes havepassed, processing from S42 through S47 are carried out to exchangebattery information, thus permitting electronic apparatuses to share thelatest battery information.

The information of batteries used at the time of power off is alsotransferred to other electronic apparatuses. In this example, two ormore electronic apparatuses storing battery information are connectedvia lines.

An operating electronic apparatus collects and updates batteryinformation of each electronic apparatus via lines at a predeterminedtiming point. Then the operating apparatus transfers the result to havethe battery information of other electronic apparatuses updated.

This battery management system transfers battery information either atthe start of an electronic apparatus or at a specified timing point.When an electronic apparatus is started, the battery information isexchanged between the electronic apparatus and those other apparatusesalready in operation. When data transfer is carried out at a specifiedtiming point, the latest battery information can be shared among allelectronic apparatuses connected via a network.

Embodiment 9

When remaining battery power becomes low, a battery can be exchangedwith a spare or it can be charged again for reuse. When there are two ormore electronic apparatuses, it can happen that batteries are attachedto an electronic apparatus different from the one it had been attachedto before.

Embodiment 9 presents a case in which battery information is transferredamong electronic apparatuses via local area network 100 to correctlydetect the remaining power when batteries are exchanged.

FIG. 22 shows an example of a battery management system according to thepresent invention. As is shown in the figure, one of the electronicapparatuses is assumed as a master electronic apparatus. The batteryinformation of other electronic apparatuses, or slave electronicapparatuses, is stored in the battery information memory of the masterelectronic apparatus.

The master electronic apparatus is assumed to start first and end lastamong electronic apparatuses, and is capable of collectively managingall battery information of slave electronic apparatuses and providinginformation regardless of the activation or deactivation of slaveelectronic apparatuses.

FIG. 23 shows items in the battery information memory of the masterelectronic apparatus.

FIG. 24 is an operational flowchart according to the present invention.

Processing from step S61 through step S67 are carried out when a slaveelectronic apparatus is powered on whereas those from step S71 throughstep S74 are carried out by a master electronic apparatus.

When a slave electronic apparatus is powered on at step S61, theactivation of the apparatus and its battery IDs are sent to the masterapparatus at step S62. Upon receiving the starting notice from the slaveelectronic apparatus at step S71, the master electronic apparatusreferences the battery information memory according to the transferredbattery ID. If the battery ID is not found in the battery informationmemory, it is registered newly at step S73. When the battery ID exists,its information is sent to the slave electronic apparatus at step S74.

The slave electronic apparatus receives its own battery information fromthe master electronic apparatus (S63), and stores it in the batteryinformation memory (S64). Each slave electronic apparatus stores andmanipulates only its own battery information of the battery currentlybeing used by that apparatus. The remaining battery power is calculatedat step S65 and displayed on the display unit at step S66.

FIG. 25 is a flowchart when the operation of a slave electronicapparatus is ended. When the operation of a slave electronic apparatusends at step S81, necessary information such as the off time and batteryIDs are sent to the master electronic apparatus at step S82. The masterelectronic apparatus updates the information in the battery informationmemory based on the informed battery IDs.

When the master electronic apparatus and a charger are separate, thecharge information is sent to the master electronic apparatus, thusenabling the master electronic apparatus to collectively manage batteryinformation.

The remaining battery power can be correctly obtained even whenbatteries are exchanged.

In this example, a master electronic apparatus and two or more slaveelectronic apparatuses are connected via a line with each electronicapparatus storing battery information. When a slave electronic apparatusis started, it receives the information of its own battery from themaster electronic apparatus via the line to perform data processing,namely calculate remaining battery power of its own apparatus. In thesame way, necessary battery information is sent to the master electronicapparatus when the slave electronic apparatus ends operation. The masterelectronic apparatus is thus enabled to manage battery informationcollectively, and correct battery information can be obtained even whenbatteries are exchanged among electronic apparatuses.

Embodiment 10

FIG. 26 gives another example of items in a battery information memory.FIG. 26 differs from FIG. 12 in containing total accumulated consumptionhours in the battery information memory. The total accumulatedconsumption hours are the total that hours of battery consumption,without being cleared at all. That is, while accumulated consumptionhours may be cleared or reduced when a battery is charged, the totalaccumulated consumption hours are obtained by adding up consumptionhours each time the operation has been performed.

By storing the total accumulated consumption hours of a battery, thelife of the battery can be determined. When, for instance, the life of abattery is known to be 2,000 hours, this battery management system canindicate to the user that the life of the battery has been out when itsaccumulated consumption hours exceeds 2,000 hours.

In this example of electronic apparatus according to the presentinvention, the life of batteries can be detected by storing their totalaccumulated consumption hours.

Embodiment 11

FIG. 27 shows another example of items in a battery information memory.This memory is different from the one shown in FIG. 9 in containing acharge counter. The charge counter, which indicates the number of timesa battery has been charged, is used as one measurement to show the lifeof the battery. If, for instance, the life of a battery is to be outwhen it has been charged 600 times, the battery management systeminforms the user that the battery's life is out, when the charge counterreaches beyond 600. One possible way of managing battery charges is tosort them out into two types: one is a full charging of batteries fromnil and the other brief and temporary charges. Brief and temporarycharges must not be counted the same way as those from the dischargedstate to the fully charged ones. Three brief and temporary charges canbe assumed as one full charge from the discharged state.

Another method of managing charges can be to distinguish the boostingcharges or the quick charges from the trickle charges. In either way,the charge counter is used to inform the user of the expiration of thelife of a battery.

In this example of electronic apparatus according to the presentinvention, the life of a battery can be detected by storing the numberof charges.

Embodiment 12

FIG. 28 shows how power consumption varies according to the operatingstate of an electronic apparatus.

For instance, the battery power of a computer is not consumed inproportion to the time spent in an operation. The battery's powerconsumption of a computer increases as the FDD. HDD or other peripheraldevices are used concurrently.

Thus, remaining battery power may not be correctly obtained if onlybattery consumption hours are factored in. To get remaining batterypower more accurately, the use of peripheral devices and hours they areactually used must also be accounted for.

The use of peripheral devices in a certain time period can be found bysampling the peripheral devices periodically. If it is found out that aperipheral device is frequently used, the consumption hours must bemodified in the positive. If a printer is continuously used for thesampled ten minutes, for example, the consumption hours is increased by30 percent to 13 minutes instead of Just assuming 10 minutes.

FIG. 29 is a configuration for sampling the operation of peripheraldevices. The CPU activates peripheral devices by issuing I/Oinstructions, which means such peripheral devices as the FDD, HDD,printer, or CRT operate according to the I/O instructions from the CPU.In order to cheek whether or not peripheral devices are operating, aninterrupt processing is used. The CPU normally works based on thesignals from a clock. In this example, clock signals are incorporated inthe timer, and the timer performs counting according to this clock. Thetimer issues an interrupt to the CPU every second. The CPU then executesa count routine according to the interrupt from the timer. The countroutine, which resides in a memory when an electronic apparatus ispowered on, processes the interrupt from the CPU. When the count routineis initiated, peripheral devices are checked If they are operating ornot. If they are in operation, counting in the table of accumulatedconsumption hours is updated.

FIG. 30 presents an example of the table of accumulated consumptionhours. This accumulated consumption hour table is used to store thecounting and the operation hours and the ratio obtained from thecounting. The FDD is counted each time it is turned on. In this example,the FDD has been turned on 30 times. Because the count routine checksthe peripherals every second, count 30 means that the operation hourscomes to 30 seconds. In the same manner, If the HDD and a printer areoperating, they are counted by the count routine every second and theoperation hours are calculated.

Although the CRT is normally kept on, there are technologies of turningit off or reducing the brightness of its display screen if it is notused for a long time. The count routine counts the time during which theCRT is turned off. The count 300 in this example is construed that thenon-operation hours of the CRT are 5 minutes. The content of this tableof accumulated operation hours is updated every second by the countroutine.

When the operation hours of an electronic apparatus are 10 minutes, andwhen the table of accumulated operation hours has been produced as inFIG. 30, the accumulated consumption hours are modified in the positiveor in the negative as described below.

The rate in FIG. 30 indicates that 20 percent more power is consumedthan usual when the FDD is used. When the FDD is used for 30 seconds,the time to be increased will be 30 sec.×20%=6 sec. The rate for usingthe HDD will be 1 min×20%=12 sec. In addition, 10 min.×30%=3 min. willbe obtained as the rate for using a printer for 10 minutes. Because theCRT is not used for 5 minutes, 5 min.×40%=2 min, must be subtracted fromthe operation hours.

For instance, if the operation hours are initially calculated to be 10minutes. It will be modified according to the table of accumulatedoperation hours, which will be 10 min.+6 sec.+12 sec.+3 min.-2 min.=11minutes and 18 seconds. In this way, modifications will be madeaccording to the operation hours of peripheral devices when they areused frequently. The battery information will be updated using theoperation hours. When the battery information is updated, the count andoperation hours in the table of accumulated operation hours are reset.The table of accumulated operation hours is updated from the power ontime through the power off time by the count routine.

When the consumption hours in the battery information memory is modifiedon the basis of this table of accumulated operation hours, the contentof the table is cleared.

The amount of operation can also be calculated by measuring the appliedcurrent with known techniques and the time of use and integrating them.The remaining battery power can be obtained more accurately as theoperation hours are increased or decreased according to the usecondition of the peripheral devices.

Embodiment 13

It is possible to add a code to the battery IDs for identifying the typeof batteries. Lithium, nickel cadmium, and nickel metal hydride storagebatteries are the common available types. The operation hours of thesebatteries differ although their physical size may be identical. They arealso charged by different methods.

Given that their sizes are the same, and if the operation hours for thenickel cadmium storage batteries are assumed to be one hour, theoperation hours for the nickel metal hydride storage batteries will be1.5 times as much, and the lithium storage batteries will be twice thatof the nickel cadmium storage batteries, respectively. If theconsumption hours of a nickel cadmium storage battery is assumed to be10 hours when it is fully charged, the consumption hours for a fullycharged nickel metal hydride storage battery will be 15 hours. When theoperation hours are calculated to be 5 hours based on the batteryinformation, the remaining running hours of a nickel cadmium storagebattery comes to 5 hours (10 h-5 h) whereas that for a nickel metalhydride storage battery comes to ten (15 h-5 h). The consumption hoursdiffer even when the shape of batteries are the same. By adding the typeof batteries to their IDs, how to charge them or how to calculateremaining power is altered. By adding the type of batteries to thebattery IDs, calculation of remaining power or charging method isaltered automatically, thereby allowing users to obtain correctremaining battery power without paying attention to the type ofbatteries.

This example explains how to distinguish three types of batteries withthe battery IDs. It is also effective to distinguish the type ofbatteries by featuring the shape or portion of the battery pack.

Embodiment 14

Previous examples have described how to calculate remaining batterypower using the operation hours or the consumption hours. This exampleshows how to obtain remaining battery power using applied voltage.

FIG. 31 shows the charge characteristics of lithium storage batteries.Because the terminal voltage of lithium storage batteries declineslinearly in relation to the operation hours, remaining battery power canbe easily obtained. The remaining battery power is stored in the batteryinformation memory for each ID as its battery information. All the otheroperations are the same as those that have explained in the previousexamples.

FIG. 32 shows the discharge characteristics of nickel cadmium and nickelmetal hydride storage batteries, whose voltage is less likely to declinein proportion to the operation hours. It is more difficult to determinethe remaining battery power when compared to the lithium storagebatteries. It is possible, however, to estimate the remaining powerusing the terminal voltage. Areas can be roughly divided, as isillustrated in FIG. 32, into area A, area B, and area C according to theconsumption hours so as to determine, for instance, that 70 to 100% ofthe power remains in area A, 50 to 70% in Area B, and 0 to 50% in AreaC.

Power can be obtained on the basis of areas divided by the consumptionhours, and their information is retained in the battery informationmemory for each ID as the battery information. All other operations arethe same as the previously described examples.

In this way, the remaining battery power can be obtained using thebattery voltage and stored as the battery information for each ID. Thus,it is enabled to always display remaining power of a battery even whenthe battery has not been in use.

In obtaining remaining battery power using voltage, it is unnecessary tostore accumulated consumption hours in the memory.

Embodiment 15

Embodiment 15 shows how to calculate remaining battery power which isnot based on the consumption hours. It is possible to use the powerinstead of the consumption hours as the battery information.

For instance, rated capacity of a fully charged battery can be used asthe battery information. To use the rated capacity as the batteryinformation, load current that runs while an electronic apparatus is inoperation and the integrated value of the hours are calculated. Bysubtracting this integrated value from the rated capacity, the remainingbattery power can be determined.

The remaining battery power can be stored as the battery information foreach ID. Other operations are the same as the previously explainedexamples, thus the explanation is omitted here.

Having thus described one (several) particular embodiment(s) of theinvention, various alterations, modifications, and improvements willreadily occur to those skilled in the art. Such alterations,modifications, and improvements are intended to be part of thisdisclosure, and are intended to be within the spirit and scope of theinvention. Accordingly, the foregoing description is by way of exampleonly and is limited only as defined in the following claims and theequivalents thereto.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electronic apparatus that receives power froma battery, the battery having an identification that indicatescharacteristics of the battery, the electronic apparatus comprising:(a)identification reading means for reading the identification from thebattery; (b) memory means for storing a table containing theidentification and battery information for the corresponding battery,the battery information including power consumption information of thebattery; (c) update means for updating the power consumption informationof the battery based on a value of power consumed from the battery; (d)remaining power detect means for detecting a level of remaining power ofthe battery based on the power consumption information which is updatedby the update means; (e) output means for indicating the level of theremaining power detected by the remaining power detect means; and (f)charge means, coupled to the update means, for charging the battery andfor providing the update means with a charge signal indicative of theamount of charge provided to the battery, wherein the memory meansincludes charge information of the battery as part of the batteryinformation, wherein the update means updates the charge informationbased on the charge signal, and wherein the remaining power detect meanscalculates the remaining power based on the battery informationincluding the charge information.
 2. The electronic apparatus of claim1, wherein the identification means includes means for identifying a newidentification that is not contained in the table, and wherein thememory means includes register means for registering new batteryinformation when the identification read means reads indicate a newidentification which is not contained in the table.
 3. The electronicapparatus of claim 1, wherein the power consumption information includespower consumption hours and accumulated consumption hours, and whereinthe update means calculates the accumulated consumption hours andupdates the battery information, and wherein the remaining power detectmeans calculates the remaining power of the battery based on theaccumulated consumption hours.
 4. The electronic apparatus of claim 3,wherein the memory means contains battery information including power ontime and power off time and wherein the update means stores the power ontime when the power is turned on, stores the power off time when thepower is turned off, subtracts the power on time from the power off timeto calculate the consumption hours, and adds the consumption hours tothe accumulated consumption hours.
 5. The electronic apparatus of claim3, wherein the battery information includes a total accumulatedconsumption hours of the battery, and wherein the update means updatesthe total accumulated consumption hours according to the consumptionhours of the battery, and wherein the remaining power detect meansrecognizes a life time of the battery based on the total accumulatedconsumption hours.
 6. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein theidentification read means reads the identification based on a bar codeattached to the battery.
 7. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe identification read means reads the identification based on a readonly memory included in the battery.
 8. The electronic apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the identification read means reads the identificationbased on a switch provided for the battery.
 9. The electronic apparatusof claim 1, wherein the identification read means reads theIdentification based on a physical shape of the battery.
 10. Theelectronic apparatus of claim i, wherein the identification read meansreads the identification based on a pattern attached to the battery. 11.The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein the battery informationcontained in the memory means includes accumulated consumption hours ofthe battery, and wherein the update means updates the accumulatedconsumption hours based on the charge information.
 12. The electronicapparatus of claim 11, wherein the update means clears the accumulatedconsumption hours when the battery is fully charged by the charge means.13. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, further comprising dischargemeans for discharging power of the battery, wherein the charge meansfully charges the battery after the discharge means discharges the powerof the battery.
 14. The electronic apparatus of the claim 1, wherein thebattery information includes a number of times the battery has beencharged, and wherein the update means updates the number of times thebattery has been charged based on the charge signal from the chargemeans, and wherein the remaining power detect means recognizes a lifetime of the battery based on the number of times the battery has beencharged.
 15. The electronic apparatus of claim 1, wherein a plurality ofperipheral devices are powered by the battery, and wherein theelectronic apparatus further comprises, monitoring means for monitoringthe peripheral devices to obtain performing time of each peripheraldevice, and adjust means for adjusting the power consumption hourscalculated by the update means according to the performing time.
 16. Anelectronic apparatus that receives power from a battery, the batteryhaving an identification that indicates characteristics of the battery,the electronic apparatus comprising:identification reading means forreading the identification from the battery; memory means for storing atable containing the identification and battery information for thecorresponding battery, the battery information including powerconsumption information of the battery; update means for updating thepower consumption information of the battery based on a value of powerconsumed from the battery; remaining power detect means for detecting alevel of remaining power of the battery based on the power consumptioninformation which is updated by the update means; output means forindicating the level of the remaining power detected by the remainingpower detect means; a power supply; switch means, coupled to the batteryand the power supply, for selecting one of the battery and the powersupply to supply power as a power source to the electronic apparatus;and power source recognize means for recognizing whether the powersource selected by the switch means is the battery or the power supply,wherein the update means updates the battery information when the powersource recognize means recognizes that the power source is the battery.17. An electronic apparatus that receives power from a battery, thebattery having an identification that indicates characteristics of thebattery, the electronic apparatus comprising:identification readingmeans for reading the identification from the battery; memory means forstoring a table containing the identification and battery informationfor the corresponding battery, the battery information including powerconsumption information of the battery; update means for updating thepower consumption information of the battery based on a value of powerconsumed from the battery; remaining power detect means for detecting alevel of remaining power of the battery based on the power consumptioninformation which is updated by the update means; output means forindicating the level of the remaining power detected by the remainingpower detect means; and wherein the battery has a battery type, and theidentification includes the battery type and wherein the remaining powerdetect means has a plurality of detection methods for detecting thelevel of the remaining power and selects one of the detection methodsbased on the battery type included in the identification.
 18. In anelectronic apparatus which receives power from a battery having anidentification, the electronic apparatus including an identificationreading means for reading the identification from the battery, memorymeans for storing a table that contains battery information, means forupdating the battery information, means for detecting remaining power ofthe battery and means for indicating the level of remaining power, amethod for managing said battery, the method comprising the steps of:(a)reading the identification from the battery; (b) searching the memorymeans containing the battery information for the identification read instep (a), wherein the battery information includes a power-on time and apower-off time of the battery, power consumption time and accumulatedconsumption time; (c) setting the power-on time in the batteryinformation in the memory means, according to the identification; (d)setting the power-off time in the battery information in the memorymeans, according to the identification; (e) calculating the powerconsumption time of the battery and accumulating the power consumptiontime in the battery information in the memory means; and (f) detecting alevel of a remaining power in the battery, based on the accumulatedconsumption time and outputting the level of the remaining powerdetected; (g) registering a new identification in the batteryinformation in the memory means when the identification read in step (a)is not found in the battery information in the memory by step (b); (h)periodically repeating the calculating step, the adding step, thedetecting step and the displaying step in order to display the currentlevel of remaining power periodically; and (i) charging the battery witha charger and updating the accumulated consumption time.
 19. The methodfor detecting remaining power of the battery of claim 18, furthercomprising the step of calculating current power consumption of thebattery based on the power-on time in the battery information and acurrent time;adding the current power consumption time and theaccumulated consumption time in the battery information in order tocalculate a current accumulated consumption time; detecting a currentlevel of the remaining power of the battery based on the accumulatedconsumption time; and displaying the current level of the remainingpower of the battery.
 20. The method for detecting remaining power ofthe battery of claim 18, further comprising the step of discharging thebattery before charging the battery.
 21. In an electronic apparatuswhich receives power from a battery having an identification, theelectronic apparatus including an identification reading means forreading the identification from the battery, memory means for storing atable containing battery information, means for updating the batteryinformation, means for detecting remaining power of the battery andmeans for indicating the level of remaining power, a method for managingsaid battery, the method comprising the steps of:(a) reading theidentification from the battery; (b) searching the memory meanscontaining the battery information for the identification read in step(a), wherein the battery information includes a power-on time and apower-off time of the battery, power consumption time and accumulatedconsumption time; (c) setting the power-on time in the batteryinformation in the memory means, according to the identification; (d)setting the power-off time in the battery information in the memorymeans, according to the identification; (e) calculating the powerconsumption time of the battery and accumulating the power consumptiontime in the battery information in the memory means; and (f) detecting alevel of a remaining power in the battery, based on the accumulatedconsumption time and outputting the level of the remaining powerdetected; and (g) communicating the battery information between aplurality of electronic apparatuses in order to share latest batteryinformation.